Storage cabinet construction



March 20, 1956 ELMAN STORAGE CABINET CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 20, 1953 FIG. 2

I I I I I l I I l I I I I I I r I l I I n I mm 7/14 A\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ INVENTOR. JEROME ELMAN of this material is placed upon the floor.

2,739,024 1 srouaon CABINET CONSTRUCTION Jerome Elman, Cleveland, Ohio Application February zll, 1953,;Serial No. 337,99(l

' sca s. (Cl. 312 83) invention relates in general to storage cabinet construction, and. relates more specifically to a utility closet Whichmay be withdrawn from afixed housing. Anobject of this invention is to provide a withdrawable housing insert for a closet in order to provide accessibility to the mostrearward portions of the closet.

Another object of this invention is :todivide a removable closet insert into front and rear compartments-to thereby storeallsmall items a position at the front of the insert readily accessible without withdrawing the entire insert, and to-store-all large and seldom used items inthe rear compartment-where it is readily accessible by Withdrawing v portion of the cabinet the Entire insert to bringthe back out intoreach. I I :Qther objectsand a fuller understanding of meinvmtion behadvbyreferring to the following description ands hi-mstakcn, in, conjunction withzthe accomp ny n drawings, in which: Y

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a model of the invention which maybe used in a'room without being built into a wall; built permanently into the building; or inserted in to a closet as a temporary insert; I

Figure-Wis a view of the construction shown ip-Figure lf tiith theiinnerhousing insert withdrawn and the door opened;':and

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Almost anyone canrecite the drawbacks and disadvan tages of the storage space generally referred to as a closet. The closet is usually deeper than necessary, with the intent that the rear portion of the closet be employed for storing items which are seldom used, and bulky items. This arrangement is often far from satisfactory with clothes closets. However, there is another type of closet which presents a far worse problem. This is the closet located in the kitchen area of the home, and often referred to as a broom closet.

Modern construction is usually done by a commercial builder in mass quantities and sold to purchasers after completion, rather than building homes tailored for a particular purchaser. In these homes the kitchen area is usually quite small. A single closet space for storing sweepers, brooms, waste containers, spices, and other miscellaneous items is provided. The waste can generally is placed just inside the opening. A sack of potatoes or onions finds a place in the rear corners of the closet. Often the closet is built wider than the door, thus providing out of the way areas either all on one side of the door, or divided right and left on both sides of the door. Small items find a resting place back in these corners. Often they are covered withother small items, such for example as dust U iifll Ste fi Furthermore, such closets. are generally built as high; as i the ceilingof'ith'e kitchen area, but the door itself is. only about six feet eight inches,'or thereabouts. Consequently there-sis a large amount of space above the door which is of It is virtually impossible to store a heavyvacuum sweeper in such a closet, because of necessity that cleaner must be placed back out of :the way-in order'that "the small'er items be placed :in. front. It is quite disic'ounag ing to'remove the cleaner, because :all'of thesmaller items must be cleaned awayin front of the. cleaner before it can be'removed.

It .iswpossible. that one-solution. to'such a problem would be to build a door which actually has an inner compartment for storing small items. opened and the small items will be foundin the cupboard built into the door. Such a door might be constructed with' a smallerdoor opening fromth-e front to.- provid'e ac cessibilzity into. the inner portion of I this. hinged cupboard, and when access desired to the balance of the'closet, then the entire small .cupboard' is hinged out of the way. ,Snch a construction, however',. ha's found little appeal, 'because the limited amount- 'of available space within the main part ofnth'ecloset'sti emainsacute, .and the gradual accumulation of junk onithe closet floor will take place 'aspreviously described. 1

' (=1); Acompl'eteiunir'to.be set'in thei room.-

construdtion.

(3 The inner 31pm fii m;',;., Y. tlhe sdrawingsi-llustrates an embodiment of the invention whiehiincorporates:the'featuresofthis invention in amenner which is believedto thepractical and desirable. The

'drawing illustrates'wan'router or fixed fhousin gcabinet l t) with. an' :inner housing :irisert I 1']; adapted to reside within --the;:fixeid housing-10. lAl'though the-'inner ho'usin'g insert cloths, shopping bags, and other similar items. Since there is seldom, if ever, a shelf provided in such a closet, all

The householder usually finds the experience to be somewhat exasperating-when an attempt is made to find a particular item -in the mass of material that collects in the bottom of such a closet.

11 may be constructed'in anyonumher-of'ways, the illustrated embodiment comprises a bottom-panel l- 2,'--'a back panel 13,, and in top panel ild. These panels are prefertrably offlight gaugeisheet "metal-Q Of course they could be constructed of wood or composition material. A suitable frame 15 completes the basic structure of the inner housing insert 11.

The entire inner housing insert 11, in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, hangs by two laterally spaced suspension slide members 16, of the conventional extensible roller type generally found in better makes of filing cabinets. Such construction provides ease of mobility for the housing insert 11, and supports the withdrawn insert exceptionally well. Other obvious modifications, such for example as bottom casters or rollers and topoverhead suspension rollers will immediatelysuggest themselves as alternatives.

The general purpose of the invention is to provide a closet within a receptacle, which, closet is withdrawn for access to the inner parts of the closet from the side. Thus, there must be, ready accessibility into side of the inner .in-

sert. In the illustrated embodiment,one side is simply left" A open without any doors, and the other sideis closed with a permanent wall 17. The provision of closing one side.

is believed desirable to better prevent stored items from falling out of the housing. Closure doors could be provided if desired. It will at once be apparent,-upon exami nation of Figure 2 of the drawing, that no part of the housing insert will be difficult to reach, and if'provided with hooks, cross bar hangers, or other storage devices, each one of the items stored will be readily accessible. No attempt has been made to show accessories within the hous- 7 ing insert.

One exception to the foregoing statement may be re- Thus, the door can he (2); ::A complete nnit for installing in newor remodeled 7 unit only for new-orremodeled conferred to and is believed to be desirable in almost all instances. This exception is the provision of a partition 20 in order to divide the internal space of the housing insert into a front and rear portion separate from one another. These portions may be referred to as compartments A shelf 21 is preferably added for holding smaller items high within the forward compartment.

It is generally preferable to provide a door to close the front opening of the closet whenever the inserthousing is within the fixed housing. In the drawing, the preferred method is to provide a door 22 hinged to the inner housing insert 11. However, it is entirely possible to hinge the door on the outer, or fixed housing 10.v When the door is hinged upon the housing insert 11, the latch 23 and handle 24 illustrated in the drawings will suifice to hold the door closed and will alsoprovide a handle by which the inner housing insert 11 may be withdrawn from the fixed housing 10. .t

It is to be understood that the actual embodiment of my improved storage cabinet construction may be embellished with many accessory devices without altering the basic concept. The object of the invention is the accessibility of the inner compartment by withdrawing the entire cabinet out of its receptacle and thus preventing the necessity of attempting to reachall portions of the closet by reaching through a front entrance.

It should be emphasized that the drawings illustrate an outer, or fixed housing 10.which may be placed in an exposed position within a room, or may be built'into the wall of .the room with onlyfthe front door 22 showing within the room, and that the entire outer cabinet may be eliminated and the inner housinginsert 11 may be mounted directly upon frame work within the house construction itself. In other words the closet replaces the outer,

orfixedhousinglOp i I Although the invention has been described'in its preferred form with a certain degree of particularity,- it is understood that the present disclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of example and that numerous changes in :the details of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafter, claimed.

What is claimed is:

l. A storage cabinet construction comprising, a fixed housing, an inner housing insert adapted to reside within said fixed housing said inner housing having a front,

, top panel, a back panel, and a bottom panel in substantial- 1y rectangular relationship enclosing a storage space, said inner housing insert having a partition dividing the storage space into a front portion compartment and a rear portion compartment, a front opening, a door member closing the front opening thereof, side entrance opening means into the rear portion compartment to provide accessibility into the back portion of the housing insert from the side, and carriage means interconnecting the inner housing insert to the outer housing and providing mobility of the inner housing insert between a retracted position within the fixed housing and an extended position projected from the housing, whereby the front portion of the storage cabinet is accessible through the front door of the insert in any position thereof, and the back portion is made accessible by withdrawing the inner housing insert out of the fixed housing.

2. A storage-cabinet comprising, a housing, a housing insert member having a generally rectangular cross section both vertically and horizontally defined by a front framed door opening with a hinged closing door, a top panel, a back panel, a bottom panel, and one side panel, said insert therefor having side entrance opening means to the interior of the insert in addition to the front door opening, a lateral partition dividing the housing insert into front andrear portion compartments, the front compartment being accessible through said front framed door opening, and carriage means cooperating between the housing and the housing insert member providing mobility of the housing'insert member for insertion into and withdrawal out of said housing, whereby the front compartment of the insert member is accessible through the front door in either position of the insert member, and the back compartment is accessiblebywithdrawing the housing insert out'ofthe housing. i

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 398,605, Gantner Feb. 26,1889- 842,'l80 Gardner Ian. 29, 1907 2,100,992 Woodhead Nov. 30, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 389,027 Great Britain Mar. 9, 1933 

